Majority of Americans Want to Start Own Business

The lure of entrepreneurship is especially felt among young men

by David W. Moore

Be your own boss -- it sounds great in principle. Illusions of
power and setting your own schedule, perhaps also of wealth far
beyond what you could earn working for someone else.

That lure of entrepreneurship has snared a majority of
Americans, according to a recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup
survey*. The poll finds that this aspiration is neither political
nor religious, nor related to education or current income. It's
primarily a youthful dream, held more by men than women.

About two-thirds of all Americans are employed either full or
part time these days (including some who are technically
"retired"). Ten percent of all adults are self-employed, including
just 4% who own their own business and have employees working for
them. But the poll, conducted March 18-20, finds that if given a
choice of starting their own business or working for someone else,
57% of Americans would opt for the former, while 40% would choose
to work for someone else. Among people who are actually employed,
the margin in favor of being their own boss is even greater -- 61%
to 38%.

This preference is especially characteristic of young people. By
a margin of 72% to 27%, they would prefer start their own business
rather than work for someone else. The proportions shift with
increasing age, so that among people 65 and older, more would
rather work for someone else (49%) than be their own boss
(40%).

Men prefer the option of starting their own business by almost a
2-to-1 margin, 63% to 34%. Women barely lean in that direction, 50%
to 46%.

The gender gap persists across age categories. Among adults
under age 50, men are 14 percentage points more likely than women
to choose being their own boss, 72% vs. 58%. Among people 50 and
older, there is an 11-point gender gap in that choice -- 52% of men
compared with 41% of women.

While views on this issue are not significantly related to
income or education, nor to partisan views such as party or
ideology, there is a large racial gap. Whites are about evenly
divided on the matter, 51% to 46% in favor of starting their own
business; nonwhites want that opportunity by an almost 4-to-1
ratio, 76% to 20%.

*Results in the current survey are based on telephone
interviews with 1,001 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted
March 18-20, 2005. For results based on the total sample of
national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of
sampling error is ±3 percentage points.

In addition to sampling error, question wording and
practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or
bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

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Given all the day-to-day challenges involved and the relatively poor economic conditions in the past few years, it would not be surprising to find many of the nation's minority small-business owners struggling and even wishing they had done something else with their lives. However, just the opposite is true.

While it is too early to say what four more years of the Bush presidency augur for small businesses, results from the most recent Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index survey present a mixed outlook for this sector. The majority of small business owners project top-line growth over the next year, but they are less enthusiastic about their ability to make the investments in capital and human resources that are crucial to sustainable top-line growth.

Few small business owners seem to have regrets about their vocation for the most part, and the majority also claim to be better off financially than they would be working for someone else. But just how robust are small business owners' personal finances?